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<br /> <br /> Staff Report <br /> <br /> <br />To: Mayor Fischer and Members of the Little Canada City Council <br /> <br />From: Ben Harrington, AICP, Community Development Director <br /> <br />Date: January 14, 2026 <br /> <br />Re: Planning Commission Youth Commissioner Role <br /> <br />Actions To Be Considered <br />• Provide direction to staff regarding potential modifications to the Youth Commissioner role on <br />the Planning Commission. <br /> <br />Background <br />In late December, the City’s Youth Planning Commissioner, Alexis Lum, resigned her position in <br />order to focus on completing the final semester of her senior year of high school. Staff appreciates her <br />service to the city and wishes her success in her post-secondary pursuits. <br /> <br />Under the City’s current structure, the Youth Commissioner is a full voting member of the Planning <br />Commission. This brings the total number of voting members to eight (8), and the Youth <br />Commissioner is counted toward quorum. <br /> <br />From an administrative standpoint, the current structure creates operational risk. Because quorum <br />requires a majority of voting members, an eight-member Planning Commission requires that five <br />members be present to establish quorum. In June 2025, the Planning Commission was one member <br />short of quorum, including the Youth Commissioner. While that instance only resulted in additional <br />public notice costs for a moved hearing, a loss of quorum for an agenda containing a business item <br />could jeopardize the City’s ability to meet the statutory 60-day deadline for action on development <br />applications. If the Youth Commissioner is restructured as a non-voting, non-quorum position, quorum <br />would be calculated based on seven voting members, meaning four members would be needed to <br />establish quorum. <br /> <br />Staff have also observed that high school students face uniquely demanding schedules. Students <br />interested in civic service are often balancing academic requirements, extracurricular activities, <br />employment, and post-secondary planning. As a result, a higher level of absenteeism for youth <br />commissioners is both expected and reasonable when compared to adult commission members. <br /> <br />One option to address these issues would be to restructure the Youth Commissioner role as a non- <br />voting, non-quorum advisory position. Under such a structure, staff do not believe the value of the <br />Youth Commissioner experience would be meaningfully diminished. Youth perspectives would <br />continue to be fully expressed during deliberations and captured in meeting minutes and in staff